


A Little Bit Of Daemon Magic Never Hurt Anyone...

by TheDarkestDandelion



Series: The Daemon, the Soldier and a Stolen Bio-Weapon AU [42]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Amusement, Demon Summoning, Discovery, Family Feels, Family Secrets, Fluff, Hide and Seek, Idiots in Love, Love, Magic, Multi, Parent Ardyn Izunia, Parent Cor Leonis, Prompto Argentum is a Ray of Sunshine, Regis is going to go grey by the end of this, Secrets, Worry, happy fic, joy, young chocobros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-12 03:44:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20557676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkestDandelion/pseuds/TheDarkestDandelion
Summary: Ardyn and Cor never expected their little sunbeam to be able to possess daemonic powers.Yet, here he was summoning daemon dogs for the fun of it. How many more abilities did Prom have and how long can the royal family keep this a secret from the council?





	1. Daemon Summoning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ryoko126](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryoko126/gifts).

> This is such a fun fic to write. 
> 
> Please enjoy and let's see what little Prom can do with his daemonic powers...

Regis fiddled with the ring on his finger as he and Somnus both glared at Ardyn and Cor in disappointment. Why did this have to happen today? Regis had an appointment on the other side of Insomnia and now he was running late thanks to his lovely family. If they had waited until the evening Regis wouldn’t feel so anxious by the news. Now he had to sit through his appointment with the knowledge that his nephew could summon fucking daemons! Regis didn’t care if in Ardyn’s words: ‘it was only a small daemon’. A daemon was a daemon. End of story.

Was there anything else that the Six wanted to throw his way, today? 

“How long have you known about this particular ability?” Regis asked, not sure if he wanted that answer or not.

“Yesterday.”

“He isn’t lying Reg.” Cor jumped in before either Regis or Somnus decided to accuse Ardyn of that.

That made Regis a little cross. Because Ardyn may not be lying about that, but he had now lied to everyone. The King did not hide the annoyance in his voice as he continued to give his uncle a stare of disapproval. “You said he would forget how to use his powers as the years went on.”

“It appears I got it wrong and he has only gained more.” Ardyn shrugged his shoulders, as a smile of pride appeared on his face.

Ardyn was very impressed that Prom was able to do that. Ardyn originally thought he would only ever be able to see in the dark, survive in freezing cold temperatures and teleport, and he wouldn’t be able to do anything else. All of those powers were manageable to contain and they weren’t going to cause harm to anyone. The summoning might harm people but… his baby could summon daemons! To Ardyn it was frigging adorable! And Prompto gave him back his dog! He did not see a problem with it at all.

“This is serious.” Somnus spat, seeing the amusement spread across his brother’s face.

“I know.” Ardyn rolled his eyes, sometimes Somnus acted more like their father than his brother.

Cor shook his head at Ardyn to tell him to stop retaliating, otherwise, they were never going to get this sorted. Ardyn gave him a quick nod, as a promise to stop. But this was Ardyn and he was never going to stop arguing with his brother.

“We know how serious this is. And Prom is not going to harm anyone.” Cor said, looking at Regis.

Regis let out a sigh, holding the bridge of his nose. “I know for a fact Prompto won’t. I am just concerned about the daemons that he may accidentally summon.”

“I can control them.” Ardyn narrowed his eyes at Regis. He had a feeling that his nephew was going to say something that he was definitely not going to agree with.

“What if you aren’t there? Ardyn this is beyond anything we have ever come across before and if they have done this to Prom, how many more are out there that hold the same abilities? I wanted to avoid this as much as possible, but it is time that we inform the council on Prom’s abilities.”

“Over my dead body.” Ardyn growled, staring directly into Regis’s eyes.

“Regis, they can’t find out. Please don’t tell them.”

Cor felt himself begin to panic. This was exactly what he didn’t want to happen, and he would have expected that to come out of Somnus’s mouth not Regis’s. The council already had it in for both himself and Ardyn, and they hated the idea of Prom being allowed in Insomnia in the first place. They would explode with this information and his 5-year-old son would be at the center of that explosion. Cor should have just listened to Ardyn and kept his mouth shut.

Regis didn’t want to tell them, and he could see how distressed both Cor and Ardyn were by that decision, but he had to think of everyone in this city. He was certain that Prom would never do it on purpose, but if the council found out that he had kept this and the teleporting from them, there was going to be fireworks. The King needed them to understand why he was doing this and where he was coming from on the matter.

“What if he is at school and this happens?”

“It won’t.” Cor raised his voice, letting his distressed seep through.

“You don’t know that.”

“We have already told him not to do it again. Prom knows that it was wrong to summon Cerberus-”

“CERBERUS?!” Somnus shouted in fear.

The Founder King thought he was shot of the daemon dog years ago. Somnus’s skin began crawl upon hearing that name. The dog hated him, absolutely hated him and Ardyn had fed Somnus to the thing many times. On a few occasions, Cerberus just decided he was hungry and Somnus would make for a good snack. Somnus felt his eye twitch at the memory…. Wait a second, Cerberus was huge! Ardyn, or Prom, could have shrunken him, but having that monster here was not a good thing. The thing was too loyal to his brother, meaning that now Somnus was going to have to watch what he said around Ardyn again, so he didn’t run the risk of being torn to pieces.

Ardyn saw his brother’s discomfort and smiled at him in delight. “Getting flashbacks, brother dear.”

“By his reaction alone I know for a fact that we need to tell them.” Regis concluded.

“Regis please… they will take him away from me. Don’t do it.” Cor started to beg placing his hands on the desk in front of him.

Regis placed a hand on top of Cor’s and attempted to calmly assure him that, that wasn’t going to happen. “Prom’s not going anywhere, I won’t let them do that. He is a part of the royal family and that is how it is going to stay.”

Cor removed his hands from his friend’s and spoke in the most serious tone he had ever used on Regis. “If they do I will kill them.”

“Cor. Stop overreacting.”

“No, they are not taking my son away from me.”

Ardyn put a hand in front of Cor to tell him he was now dealing with this. He was not having anyone upset his Marshal, even if it was Regis. “Dear nephew, you will not have a council left if they even suggest that.”

“You are both overreacting.” Regis shook his head and turned to Somnus for support. “Tell them, Grandfather. Tell them that they are simply overreacting.”

“No.”

Regis blinked and looked up at his Grandfather, who had his arms folded across his chest. Even Cor and Ardyn were giving him a funny look. He was always so particular about this city, all three of them thought he would be the first one to expose Prom to the council.

Somnus grumbled. “Don’t look at me like that. I am with them on this one. It is best that you keep this as quiet as possible, for Prom’s safety more than anything else.”

“And if it is kept quiet, he may not be able to control it. Sorry, uncle, but when you lose it the world is in danger. What is going to happen if Prompto gets too upset and he summons a daemon in public? I can’t have this city go into a panic.” Regis argued back. He couldn’t believe he was hearing this and it was coming from Somnus!

“Ardyn will help.” Cor blurted out, before quickly turning to his husband to confirm what he was saying. “You can teach him how to control it, can’t you?”

“Ardyn can barely control himself.” Somnus let out a small laugh but regretted it when Ardyn went back to glaring daggers at him.

“What happened to being nice to me then?”

“Prom’s my nephew.”

Ardyn would deal with Somnus later. He gave Regis puppy dog eyes and put on a voice to make it convincing that he was pleading to him. “I can Regis. I will be able to get Prom to control himself. I promise.”

Why did Ardyn have to play the guilt trip card? This was stupid giving in to all of there wishes. If Regis had Clarus with him, he would be able to stand his ground and say no to their insane demands. But unfortunately, both Gladiolus and Iris were ill, and Clarus’s children needed his attention and care. This was another thing what annoyed Regis, was that Somnus became his Shield’s replacement when Clarus was ill or he couldn’t get here for whatever reason. Now he wasn’t going to get away with anything with his Grandfather keeping an eye on him…

Regis breathed out in frustration. “Okay! You can stop acting like that Ardyn. Whatever happens, Prompto will remain in your care, but if an incident does arise the council must be informed.”

* * *

That night, Ardyn and Cor took Prompto to Somnus’s personal training hall so that they were not disturbed. Because if either the Guard or Glaive caught wind of this, everyone would find out. The word may even make it’s way over to Niflheim and then they would be in a real pickle.

Ardyn sat on the floor in front of Prom, who was wearing his yellow Chocobo onesie, and smiled at him when he spoke to his son. “Sunbeam, you know we said you couldn’t summon daemons. Well-”

“I didn’t mean too. I am sorry dada for doing that.” Prom bowed his head, thinking that he was in trouble for doing it.

Cor ruffled Prom’s hair to comfort him. “We know you didn’t mate, but because you didn’t mean too we need to talk about it. Dada is going to help you learn to control it, so you don’t do it at school.”

“But I would never do that.” Prom said in confusion shaking his head. He wasn’t allowed to teleport at school because his dada said people might be confused by it. Prompto knew that summoning daemons was a thing that only his dada could do. Which meant that doing that at school was definitely a no go.

“We know you wouldn’t Sunbeam. But you see… we just have to do this in case…” 

“It’s so you don’t do it in front of Noct, Gladio or Ignis.” Cor rolled his eyes at Ardyn’s reluctance to admit that.

Cor knew Prom would never do that, but for Regis’s and Clarus’s peace of mind, he said it anyway. Cor was willing to do anything to ensure that the council did not find out about this, including doing Clarus’s paperwork for the week. But thankfully, it hadn’t come down to that yet…. Yet.

Ardyn noticed that Prom had been very quiet upon hearing that, and he slightly cringed at the possibility that his son may have already done it. “Have you done it in front of Noct?”

“No. Daemons are dangerous. Unless they are you, dada!”

Cor and Ardyn both gave each other a look to say: _That’s the biggest lie I have ever heard._

Ardyn diverted his gaze away from Cor and poked Prom on the nose. “Good boy. Alright, can you tell me how you think you have summoned Cerbie.”

Prompto rubbed the back of his neck and sheepishly responded. “I just… thought I wanted a dog and Cerbie appeared.”

“Okay… Well did you feel happy or sad when you wanted a dog to appear?” Ardyn questioned, knowing that emotions were the key to this. But Prompto just gave him a blank expression and looked up at Cor in confusion. Right, Prom had no idea what he was on about… “Forget that just tell me how you were feeling last night.”

A bright and sunny smile appeared on Prom’s face and he spoke quite loudly as he explained to his dads. “I was happy cause I had enjoyed our holiday and uncle Som was there to greet us when we got back. But… I was a little disappointed that we weren’t going to see the Chocobo’s anymore and I was thinking because, daddy you said no to the birds, but maybe you would say yes to a dog. I felt nervous about asking but I was really hoping you might say yes, but then Cerbie appeared and started giving me cuddles.”

Cor let out a tiny groan at his inability to like pets. Why hadn’t he just agreed to the goldfish last year? All this would have been fucking avoided. And now he was stuck with a daemon dog living in his house, who was probably tearing up his sofa. The Marshal was not having a good day.

Ardyn tapped his chin and began to think. Prom’s emotional state appeared stable when he summoned Cerbie, so he highly doubted that had anything to do with it. This is were Ardyn had made a mistake. Prom was human with daemon DNA, he wasn’t a daemon like he was, so the same rules didn’t apply to him. Also, Prom was a child. Meaning his mind was a lot more open to things and he believed and had more trust than what was good for him.

Maybe that was it? In order to get to the bottom of this Ardyn had to think in the mindset of a child. That wasn’t very difficult. What do children do when they want something. They wish.

“Can you wish for Cerbie to come here now?” Ardyn asked, shuffling back, in case he was right.

“In the Citadel.” Cor said sternly. That was one of the stupidest idea’s Ardyn had ever had.

“We need to get this sorted, don’t we?” Ardyn said, before encouraging his son to do just that. “Come on Prom. I know you can do it.”

“Okay.”

Prompto looked up at Cor first. Even he knew that his dada had crazy stupid idea’s, it was always better to get daddy’s permission before agreeing to what his dada had said. When Cor gave him a nod of approval, Prom closed his eyes tight and thought of Cerbie. The boy had already fallen in love with the three-headed dog and he wished that Cerbie would come to the Citadel and play with him and dada.

Nothing happened for a good five minutes. Cor was about to tell Ardyn this was pointless, but Ardyn soon raised a hand to prevent him from talking. Because Ardyn could feel the scourge start to materialise in the corner of the room and he wasn’t the one doing it. Which only meant Prom was.

All of a sudden Prom heard a barking noise and opened his eyes with joy. He opened up his arms as he saw Cerbie running towards him.

“CERBIE!” 

Well, at least they knew how he had done it.

Now, the problem was getting him to understand that Cerbie couldn’t go to school with him.

Cor had the answer to that. He told Prom that Cerbie couldn’t go out in the sunlight because it would hurt him, and that he had to remain in the house at all times in case he got hurt. Prompto agreed and continued to pet Cerbie who was basically laying on him, begging for attention.

Now the problem lay with him doing it at night… and other daemons that he may accidentally summon if he wanted a fish, a cat, or a Chocobo as a pet.

* * *

About three times a week, Ardyn would take Prom to Somnus’s training hall and get him to summon Cerbie. Because if Prom kept doing it in a controlled environment and learnt how to control it he wasn’t going to cause anyone any harm, least of all accidentally harming himself. In the long run, it was better if Prom embraced who he was and what he could do instead of hiding it out of fear.

Ardyn had learnt that the hard way and he was determined to prevent Prom from falling into that fragile state of mind. Because what calm Ardyn down now, was Cor and Prom. But that came at a price as they were also the two beings that he would allow the daemons to have control over him for, if he thought for a moment they were in any danger. Maybe he should seek counseling for that. Nah, he had managed 2000 years without a councilor he didn’t need one now.

(That was what he kept telling himself)

Cor was still very uneasy about all of this. If he was honest, he was scared that Prom was going to accidentally do it in the middle of the city and people would start running in all directions and scream that his son was a monster. Prompto was already troubled with the whole ‘bad man’ thing, Cor didn’t want Prom to go back to believing that he was that disgusting rat. Cor was so distracted by those thoughts he zoned out at the dinner table and let his food go cold.

“Penny for your thoughts My Marshal?” Ardyn questioned lightly so that Prom didn’t realise something was upsetting Cor.

Cor rubbed his eyes as Ardyn’s voice pulled him back to reality. “Not suitable talk for dinner time.”

Ardyn cocked his head to get Cor to explain further, but all the Marshal did was drift his gaze towards Prom.

Ardyn nodded and smiled at his son. “Prompto, why don’t you get an ice cream from the freezer and put some cartoons on the TV.”

“Really! But you usually say that it’s yours and daddy’s TV time now.” Prom asked with hope glittering his eyes, making sure he had heard Ardyn right.

“I think we can make an exception today. Off you go.”

“Yeyeyeye!”

Prom cheered as he jumped down off his chair and ran towards the door of the living room, so he could get to the kitchen. Not surprisingly Cerbie wasn’t even a foot behind him as he left the room. That warmed Ardyn’s heart. Now both of his babies loved and cared for each other as much as he cared for them.

Ardyn clapped his hands and pushed his empty plate away. “Now, you are worried about him, aren’t you?”

“And you aren’t? You heard what Doctor Mars said. Prom is more than likely going to have a mental illness when he gets older. And if this gets out people are going to start calling him a monster.” 

“It won’t get out.” Ardyn said, before pointing at Cor’s food so he would eat it.

Cor rolled his eyes and picked up his fork to stop Ardyn form badgering him. “You can’t know that. Prom isn’t like us Ardyn. He is innocent and I hate to say it but he is fragile. That type of name-calling will really affect him.”

“What did I tell you about parenting? We will deal with that, if and when it comes to it.” 

“I am being practical here.” Cor grunted shoving his cold food into his mouth. Curry tasted awful when it was stone cold.

“My Marshal, please stop worrying. He is getting the hang of it now. And as long as he doesn’t show signs of having anymore abilities it will be easier to conceal.”

“Let’s hope he doesn’t have any more than.”


	2. The Teleporting Incident

Ardyn hated Somnus for so many reasons. But on a good day, he could narrow it down to about three if he really tried hard. 

One: Somnus was a dick. Enough said. That covered about a third of his all reasonings. Two: Somnus could be a selfish petty bastard. It was a rarity if the Founder King wasn’t acting that way. When he didn’t it sort of freaked Ardyn out. Reason number three, that was… Somnus always gave him the annoying, unwanted, nitty-gritty tasks when it came to dealing with Lucian politics.

All Ardyn wanted to do on this bright and sunny day, was pick his son up from school, sit in the garden under a nice shaded tree, read a book while Prom played in the garden until Cor came back from work. But no. Somnus had to drag him and Prom to the Citadel because he was too god damn lazy to deal with his own council. Well, it was technically Regis’s, but the point still stood. Somnus was just a lazy, bitter, selfish, dick of a younger brother. No one, not even Cor could convince him otherwise. The only two good things that would come out of his trip, would be that he may get to see Cor earlier than expected and that Prom could play with the boys until he or Cor had finished what they were doing for the day.

Ardyn handed Prompto over to Noctis’s nanny and left him in her care until either himself or Cor were free to take him home. And this tiny innocent normal little action was going to have severe consequences further down the line. The immortal daemon just didn’t know it yet.

As it was such a bright and sunny afternoon Noctis’s nanny took the two Prince’s, the young Shield and the Prince’s advisor down to the Citadel gardens to play. There were Guard and Glaive at hand in case they needed them, and Noct’s nanny sat not too far away from the boys on a bench and left them to it. Because they were only kicking a ball around and not bickering, she started to read a book and get lost in her novel.

Which was a mistake on her part…

“To me Iggy!” Prompto beamed as he flapped his arms at his friend, to get him to kick the ball to him.

Prompto was happy that he had got to come here today. After the summoning Cerberus incident, he only really came to the Citadel to learn how to control his ‘daemon giving gift.’ That’s what his dada called it anyway. And his daddy didn’t like that he called it that. But then again, he didn’t really call it anything. It was a nice change to be here to play with Noct, Gladio and Iggy.

Noctis was happy to have Prom here, he just wasn’t happy about their chosen game. He sat down on the ground and started to pick at the neatly cut grass in protest. “This is boring.”

“What do you want to do than Noct?” Ignis asked after he kicked the ball Prom’s way.

“I don’t know.”

“Stop complaining and just play the game.” Gladio ordered, focusing more on Prom than the Noct.

The young Amicitia still didn’t like the attitude that Noct sometimes had. He couldn’t understand why, that Prompto, being a Prince himself, never demanded anything and did what he could to make other people happy, whereas Noct to a certain extent expected to have things handed to him on a plate. It infuriated the little boy and he hated the fact he had to be his Shield when he grew up. Maybe he thought this way because he often helped his dad and Jared look after Iris and thought himself too mature to put up with this rudeness. 

“I don’t want to.” Noctis complained, shooting a glare at him. They still didn’t get on very well. And Noct didn’t know if they were ever going too.

Prompto stopped kicking the ball around and hurried over to Noct, before joining him on the floor. He flung an arm around his best friend’s shoulders and smiled at him. Prom didn’t want to see Noctis sad. No matter the situation.

In a very happy and bubbly voice, Prompto suggested that they play another game. “How about we play… Piggy in the middle!”

“Not a bad idea blondie. Noct’s the pig.” Gladio laughed picking up the ball and throwing it to Ignis, who was luckily concentrating, otherwise the ball would have knocked his glasses off his face.

“No fair!” Noctis huffed standing up having a mini temper tantrum at the sudden game change. He decided then he didn’t want to play with Gladio anymore.

Ignis shook his head and threw it to Prom, before encouraging Noct to play. “Ignore him Noct and just enjoy it.”

“Come on, please play with us!!” Prompto but on the brightest smile he could to convince Noct to join and eventually Noctis agreed.

And he hated this game too, mainly because he couldn’t catch the ball and because the three of them were throwing the ball, it was hard to keep track of it was. Also, he was tired and wanted to have a nap. But the pure enjoyment on Prom’s face was not something Noct would ever want to crush, so he continued to play to make his best friend happy. And it made Ignis happy. Gladio… was happy if Noct wasn’t enjoying himself, and Noctis definitely wasn’t.

“I love this game!” Prompto cheered bouncing the ball over to Glaido, and Noctis nearly tripped over in an effort to catch.

That made Gladio laugh and he put the ball out of Noct’s reach when the Prince ran over to him. “Yeah and the Princess is failing at it.”

“No fair, you're taller than me.” Noctis grumbled, refusing to jump for it.

“Rise above it, your highness.” Ignis gave him a healthy reminder. But that sentence just made Gladio laugh harder and he went on his tiptoes to tease the Prince further.

Prom was confused by the laughter. “Why is that funny?”

“It’s not. Now give me the ball.” Noctis demanded, still point-blank refusing to jump or raise his hands to get it. Why couldn’t he just go and find a tree to sleep under already?

“If you want it, catch it.” Gladio smiled before throwing the ball as high as he could straight upward.

The ball didn’t come back down. In confusion and curiosity, all four of the boys looked up to see where it had gone. Only to discover that their ball had gotten lodged in-between some of the branches and it didn’t look like it was going to come down any time soon. Ignis looked around to see if they could use anything or get anyone to help them dismantle their toy but for some reason, no one was about. Even Noct’s nanny had disappeared. Now, what were they going to do?

“Oh no.” Ignis sighed, ready to suggest that either he or Gladio go and find someone to help them.

“Shoot.” Gladio stomped his foot, annoyed at himself. Because that was actually Noct’s ball and the Prince was going to complain about it for the rest of his life if they didn’t get it down soon.

Noctis shrugged his shoulders and sat under the tree. “I am so telling your dad that you did that on purpose.”

“No, I didn’t! Anyway, can’t the Prince of Lucis warp up there and get it himself!”

“I am 5 Gladio!”

The pair started to get into an argument. Because there was no guard, glaive or Noct’s nanny around, there was no one to stop them from shouting nasty words at each other. Ignis did the best he could to calm the pair down and talk about it in a rational way, but they didn’t listen. Prom covered his ears and shook his head at the shouting. He didn’t like it when then this happened. Why couldn’t Noct and Gladio just get along? They were nearly as bad ad his dada and uncle Somnus. And that was saying something. Prom hadn’t come over to witness this. He had come over to play and have a fun time, not listen to all these horrible and untruthful words.

That’s when a light switch flicked on in his head and he looked up at the tree.

His dads had told him not to ever teleport in front of people, including Noctis, unless it was an emergency. Because Noctis and Gladio were getting worked up and upset this seemed like an emergency.

Prom smiled and tapped Noct’s shoulder to get his attention. “It’s okay Noct. I’ll get the ball down.”

“Prompto, don’t climb up there, His Grace and the Marshal won’t like it.” Ignis jumped in before Prom could even move. Ignis didn’t understand the full power that Ardyn had yet, but even the children knew that bad things happened if he got angry. And if Prom hurt himself… everyone would be in the royal’s firing line.

“Don’t worry, Iggy. I am not going to climb.” Prom smiled before disappearing in front of the three boy’s eyes.

All three of them started to frantically look around to see if they could spot Prom anywhere. That was until the ball, that had been stuck up in the tree, fell in front of their faces, forcing them to look to see their friend waving at them with a smile on his face.

“There you go!” Prompto called down.

Gladio and Ignis looked at Prom with such wonder. They simply had no idea how he would have been able to do that. They had known Prom since he arrived in Insomnia and not once had they ever seen him do anything like that. They knew he could see in the dark but teleporting, that was… cool. Noct wasn’t surprised. For Ardyn could do it, and his uncle liked to tease him with the fact he could do it and the Prince couldn’t. It only made sense his son would be able too. 

Noctis rolled his eyes and crossing his arms. “I want to do that”

“Same here.” Gladio agreed, still trying to figure out how on Eos Prom had done that.

“Prompto get down from there!” Ignis called up, realising how much danger Prom was in.

Upon hearing Iggy’s worried voice, Prompto agreed and stupidly moved before even thinking about teleporting down to safety. The wind picked up and the little boy lost his balance, and he slipped off the branch. Prompto screamed in terror as he just about managed to hang on to the branch he had been sitting on with his hands. His grip was so tight that the wood hurt his hands and tears of fear rolled down his face as he refused to let go. He was so scared out of his mind that he completely forgot that he could teleport and continued to whimper and cry as he hung from the tree. 

“PROM!” Noctis screamed frightened out of his witts that Prom could fall at any moment.

Ignis’s eyes went wide in fear, but he didn’t have time to be scared. If Prom fell from that height, he could severely hurt himself. They needed to think fast before he loosened his grip or the branch broke. Ignis pushed Gladio and told him to run and get help. Gladio didn’t need to be told twice and he ran as fast as his legs would carry him.

Ignis looked back up towards Prom and shouted up to him. “Hold on Prom! Gladio is going to get help!”

“Iggy we got to help him.” Noctis said anxiously as he walked closer towards the tree, determined to climb it so he could help Prom. But Ignis got hold of his arm and yanked him back.

“No, you are not climbing that tree!”

“He needs us!”

Ignis and Noctis didn’t argue any further as they heard a cry of desperation coming from Prompto.

“NOCT! HELP! I AM SLIPPING!”

Prompto’s grip started to loosen and he could no longer hold himself up anymore. He looked down for a second and finally realised how big of a drop it was. Because he got more terrified, he began to panic. His hands became sweaty and he slowly started to slip off the branch. Because he felt himself start to go he began to wriggle and that was that.

He let go and started to fall. 

“PROM!”

“AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!”

Prompto closed his eyes, in complete and utter terror, screaming at the top of his lungs frighten half to death. He heard Noctis and Ignis scream his name, he felt his heartbeat out of his chest and the wind and forces pulling him down to the ground.

Prom covered his eyes and because of that, he didn’t see the flash of pink come out of nowhere and grab hold of him before he hit the ground. When he landed, he landed on something soft and a pair of arms wrapped around him, caging him in a protective embrace.

Prom trembled in fear as he slowly uncovered his red and sore eyes and realised that he was laying on his dada chest. 

“Dada? DADA!” Prom wept with relief as he hugged Ardyn back as tight as he could. He was safe now.

Ardyn fought back a grunt of pain, from the force of landing on his back and rubbed Prom’s back to comfort him. “Are you alright? You’re not hurt, are you?

“No.” Prompto whimpered, refusing to let his grip loosen.

By this point a member of the glaive had taken Noct, Ignis and Gladio away from Ardyn and Prom, as she knew how pissed His Grace was going to be with anyone who tried to talk to him. Which gave Ardyn some time to calm Prompto down and actually check if his son was hurt at all. Ardyn sat up and checked Prom’s hands, they were a little cut up. Ardyn quickly throw a potion on them and waited until Prom had stopped sniffing before letting his panic get the better of him.

He lightly took hold of Prom’s upper arms and let the panic seep into his words. “You frighten me half to death! What in the name of Bahamut were you doing up there!?”

“Getting the ball down.” Prompto said in a low voice, not looking at his dada, as he knew how disappointed he must be in him for breaking the rules.

“Don’t you ever do that again! Do you understand me, young man!”

“Yes… sorry.”

“Good. We are going home where I can keep an eye on you.”

* * *

Cor found out what happened from one of the guard’s he was training. The guard asked Cor why he was still here and not at home. The Marshal was confused at first, but as soon as he heard that his son had fallen out of a tree and if Ardyn had been a second too late Prom would have hit the ground, Cor dropped what he was doing and raced home on his motorbike. Cor ran through every red light and throw his bike on the front lawn, not caring if it got stolen, and ran into his house to find Ardyn angrily tapping his fingers on the stairs case.

From there Ardyn explained what had happened and that he was extremely pissed off at the guard and glaive that should have been on duty, who failed to protect his son. If it was was up to him, Ardyn would dismiss the lot of them and make sure that they never found employment anywhere else ever again. Cor was just as angry and upset too, but he thought that was taking it a little too far. Yes, they would be punished, and Cor assured Ardyn that he and Drautos were going to deal with them tomorrow. The issues with Noct’s nanny came into the conversation and Ardyn told Cor that Regis had already fired her. Because instead of looking after the children she went off with one of the glaives that was on duty and proceed to ‘put her own needs’ in front of the children’s. That glaive was getting fired too.

Once Cor had calmed himself down, and gotten over the initial shock that his son had nearly died today, he went upstairs to talk to Prom.

The 5-year-old boy was sitting on his bed, looking like a kicked puppy, with his toys lined up in front of him. Prom didn’t need to look up to know it was his daddy who had walked into his room. 

“Did dada tell you?”

“Yes.” Cor replied, shutting the door behind him, before sitting on Prom’s bed. Cor used a very worried tone as he talked to his son. “Prom what were you thinking? You could have really gotten hurt today.”

“I just wanted to get the ball down for Noct.” Prom whispered still not looking up from his toys, afraid to see the disappointment in his daddy’s eyes.

“You shouldn’t have done that. Me and dada told you not to ever teleport unless it is an emergency. Noct, Gladio and Ignis saw you doing that.” Cor knew that wasn’t the pressing issue here. But he needed to get Prompto to understand the consequences of his actions and what they could have brought. Including, the boys finding out about his powers.

“I just wanted to make Noct happy.” Prom sniffed, holding back tears. He didn’t want either of his dads being disappointed in him.

Cor let out a sigh and pulled Prom in for a hug, just feeling relieved that he was safe. “I know. You could have asked dada, uncle Somnus, or one of the glaives to get it down for you.”

Prompto snuggled up to Cor, and let go a few tiny tears before peeping out. “I am sorry daddy. Are you cross?”

“I am not cross Prom, I was very scared. And so was dada that is why he is sulking downstairs. We don’t want you to get hurt.” Cor explained calmly, as he knew in Ardyn’s overprotective mindset, he had more than likely failed to do just that.

“That’s why you don’t want me teleporting.”

“Yes. If something happened to you, dada and I would be very upset.”

“I am sorry.”

Cor hugged on to Prom tighter than before and ran rubbed his back to comfort him. They sat there for a few moments to let what had happened sink in. Cor was so glad that Gladio got Ardyn when he had. The Marshal had no idea how either him or Ardyn would react if something bad ever happened to Prom. He was everything to them, all Cor wanted to do was keep him safe. The scary part was over now and Prom was safe. That was the important thing.

Cor spoke to Prom sternly this time, as he continued to hug him. “Can you promise me you won’t do that again?”

“I promise.” Prom happily agreed.

“Good. Now, because we told you not to teleport unless there is a reason, and you did it anyway, we are going to take your game console off you for the rest of the week.”

“Okay…” Prom said in a sad voice. He was never teleporting again.

* * *

“Prom can you do that again?” Noctis asked in a whisper.

“I am not allowed Noct.” Prompto said shaking his head.

“Why?”

“Because my dads said no.”

Prom knew he should listen to them. He could have been severely hurt and he didn’t want to worry anyone. Also, Cerbie refused to talk to him for a few days. The dog would sit in his presence and keep him safe, but he gave Prom the cold shoulder to teach him a lesson. Prom had definitely learnt it.

Noctis was a little less sensible. Because his nanny got ‘asked to leave’ he had a new nanny and Noct was pushing as many boundaries as he could at the moment. Which included barricading himself and Prom in his room so he could see Prom teleport again. The Prince just wanted to know how to do it, in the hopes Prom would teach him.

“That’s not fair, uncle Ardyn does that all the time.” 

“But your dad and Somnus tell him off. I shouldn’t do it.” Prom said scratching his neck nervously.

“I think it’s awesome.” Noctis smiled pushing him in the shoulder to relax his best friend.

Prompto couldn’t really argue with Noct there. “Yeah. It is pretty cool.”

“So do you think, you could show me again? I promise I won’t tell your dads, my dad, Gladio, Iggy, Gladio’s dad. I won’t tell anyone.” Noctis smiled, hoping Prom would give in to his demands.

He didn’t have to do much badgering either to get what he wanted.

“Okay.”


	3. Time Manipulation

Why did Ardyn have to insist that he take Cerbie for a walk just after the new wardrobe had arrived?

Ardyn had helped Cor take the thing upstairs but he left at the first opportunity he got. Cor guessed it was because their bedroom was the only room in the house that Ardyn was not allowed a say in. After they brought the house they came to that arrangement because the immortal being had decided to take it upon himself to choose all the interior in every single room as well as what colour paint they were going to use for the walls. The only room that he had left out, by mistake, was their bedroom and Cor told Ardyn that he would decide what went in their room and how they should decorate it. And if Ardyn stayed to help rearrange their room, he would have attempted to make helpful suggestions on the layout, and it was going to piss Cor off.

However, it would have helped Cor if Ardyn had taken Prompto with him. That way Cor wouldn’t have to worry whereabouts in the house his son was, and Prom wouldn’t wander into his room while he was moving stuff around.

In order to ensure that Prom was out the way while he changed his room around, he put on Prom’s favourite film on in the living room and sat Prom on the sofa with a bucket of ice cream. To enforce the idea that the 5-year-old should remain seated Cor gave Prompto Ardyn’s favourite ice cream. Salted Carmel. And no one but Ardyn was allowed to eat that flavour in this house. As thanks, Prom promised he would stay put until his dada came back with Cerbie.

Once Cor was satisfied, he put his cold coffee in the microwave and went upstairs to move his room around. The bed was the first thing to be moved, then the chest of draws, the desk, Ardyn’s box of random crap which mainly consisted of fidget spinners, stress balls, bouncing balls and squishy’s. Because Ardyn wasn’t here to protest where anything had been placed, this task was going to take the Marshal no time at all. Cor moved the side cabinets to either side of their bed and placed the lamps and alarm clocks on top of them. Now finally, all that remained was the wardrobe. Which was the heaviest thing in his room and when Cor moved it he had to make sure that it didn’t tear the carpet, otherwise Cor would have to do all of this again on the weekend, once he had replaced the carpet.

The Marshal was carefully shuffling the wardrobe along and he practically jumped out of his skin when he heard Prom’s little voice coming from the left of him.

“Daddy?” 

Cor steadied the solid wooden wardrobe, before turning to look at his son, who had ice cream all over his top. Great. The sofa was probably a mess too. “Prom, I told you to stay downstairs.”

“I know… but I thought you were getting lonely, up here on your own.” Prom said sweetly, not moving from the doorway.

That made Cor smile. How was Prom so adorable? “Don’t worry about me mate. Right now, it isn’t safe for you to be in here. I am moving furniture around, and I don’t want anything to fall on you.”

Prompto pouted a little. He didn’t want to sit downstairs on his own anymore. He wanted to spend some quality time with his daddy. Prompto didn’t get to see Cor as much as he got to see Ardyn, so when it was just the two of them in the house, Prom wanted to spend every second with his daddy. That’s when Prom had an idea.

He placed his arms behind his back, tilted his head slightly and asked in the cutest voice he could. “Daddy, can I stay with you if I sit on the bed, please. I promise I will not move.”

_Prom was turning into a manipulative little boy. He was definitely Ardyn’s son. _Cor thought to himself. How could he possibly deny his child that request? And he asked very nicely…. Cor was getting soft as he grew older. 

The Marshal rolled his eyes and gave in. “Alright. Make sure you stay on that bed though.”

Prom smiled as he nodded, happy that he had gotten his wish. Prom quickly hurried to his dads' bed and sat in the middle of it with his legs crossed, staring at what his daddy was doing.

Cor smiled back at him before returning to move the wardrobe to its designated area in the room. However, Cor must have missed one of Ardyn’s toys and one of the legs must have been weak because as he was moving it he heard something snap and the wardrobe started to lop to one side. Cor managed to keep his colourful mouth to himself and swear internally. Now they were going to have to buy a new one. Cor knew the price of this bloody thing was too good to be true. Ardyn did tell him to look at more before buying this one. But Cor was too stubborn to listen and he brought the pile of crap anyway. Ardyn was going to love to rub it in his face that he was right.

Prompto got a little worried, he noticed that Cor was now struggling to move it across the room. The blonde boy shuffled to the end of the bed and questioned his dad. “Daddy, is that heavy?”

“A bit. But nothing to worry about.” Cor assured him, before stopping for a moment. He was debating whether to put it on its side so it didn’t fall over. But he would probably need Ardyn’s help for that.

But Prom had another idea. He hopped off the bed and walked over to Cor. “Daddy let me help.”

“Prompto stay on the bed!” Cor ordered, snapping his head in Prom’s direction.

“But I can…” Prompto said as he reached out to do just that.

Cor tried to tell Prompto to get back on the bed again. This heavy wardrobe was no longer safe for Cor to be moving around let alone for Prom to be anywhere near it. But every time Cor told Prom to stop, he didn’t listen and tried to help again.

Cor didn’t mean too. He lost his grip on the thing for a split second and by that time it was too late. The wardrobe started to fall and it was falling directly towards Prompto. Cor did what he could to stop the thing from falling by trying to get a hold of it, but it was too heavy, and, he shouldn’t have done it, he tried to kick Prompto to safety but he was just out of his reach. As the thing came hurdling towards his precious baby boy, Cor saw Prom froze and stick his hands up in the air in an attempt to protect himself.

“Prom!” Cor shouted as he completely let go of the thing and put himself in between the wooden wardrobe and his child.

Cor was expecting to get smacked by the object, but that never happened. Cor blinked and looked behind him to see that the wardrobe had stopped in mid-fall. It was only standing on one of its legs, falling towards the pair, but it had stopped. Like it was frozen in time. 

“What the...” Cor questioned to himself, before shaking his head.

He quickly turned around, picked up Prom and moved as fast as he could out of his room. And when the pair were safely out of the way, Cor heard the wardrobe finally fall and make contact with his bed. Cor held Prom close to him, as he turned around to see his bed broken and the wardrobe on top of it. He ran a hand through Prom’s hair and breathed out to bring his heart rate down. That was fucking scary but at least Prom was safe.

But…

What the fuck just happened?

* * *

“Hello, my darlings!”

Ardyn called as he walked into his house with a smile on his face. But he didn’t get a reply back. Which was strange… All of a sudden Cerbie started to pull at his lead and tried to go upstairs. His dog started to whine and whimper and his behaviour made Ardyn feel very uneasy.

Ardyn quickly patted Cerbie on the head and spoke to him in a stern voice. “Calm down Cerbie. My Marshal! Sunbeam!”

After he shouted, he heard footsteps coming towards the stairs from Prom’s room. Which made Cerbie pull even more, and so that Cerberus didn’t break his lead again, Ardyn let him off and the daemon dog raced up the stairs like a rocket. Ardyn followed Cerbie but stopped halfway up the stairs when he saw Cor appear at the top of them. He looked worried. What had happened now?

“We have a problem.”

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Ardyn asked, feeling himself get more agitated as the seconds ticked on. Ardyn heard Prompto start laughing and Cerberus jumping around, so whatever it was it couldn’t be that serious…

“Prom can do something else.”

Ardyn was wrong. It had just gotten very serious.

Ardyn was silent so that Cor would elaborate on the matter further, but he just told Ardyn to come with him to Prom’s room.

This was not good. A hundred things were racing around Ardyn’s mind. Because Cor was being so ominous about it, Prom could have any ability. Ardyn just prayed it wasn’t that he could control fire and that he had burnt his and Cor’s room to a crisp. Because if Prom did that at school, there was no way he would be able to explain that away. This was slowly getting out of hand… but Ardyn wasn’t going to admit that. Prom had control over the teleporting, he was learning how to control himself with summoning, Ardyn was more than capable to teach him whatever this power was. 

He hoped.

When Ardyn saw Prom he was happily giving Cerbie a hug but stopped what he was doing when he heard Cor talk. “Prom, can you show dada what you did in our room please?”

Prompto went a little red and twiddled his thumbs before looking up at his parents. “I didn’t want daddy to get hurt.”

“Hurt?” Ardyn said instantly turning to Cor in a panic. Ardyn was more concerned about Cor now.

Cor put a hand up before Ardyn started to smother him. “Ass Hat, I am fine. The wardrobe broke and nearly fell on us, but Prom stopped it.”

Ardyn gave Cor an odd look before turning to Prom, who still looked like he had committed a sin of some sort. Which confused both Cor and Ardyn as they were more than grateful that Prom had just prevented himself and Cor from getting hurt. Also, Cor had spent the last 20 minutes, explaining that he wasn’t cross or upset with Prom. That everything was okay. His son was more than likely a little in shock from what had just happened.

Cor sat on Prom’s bed and encouraged him to do it again. “Come on, mate. Show Dada.”

Prompto slowly nodded before picking up one of his toys. The little boy threw it towards the floor, but before it could hit the floor, it froze in mid-air just like the wardrobe had done.

“Ah. Time manipulation as well.”

* * *

“I understand that this is a worry. But he can only manipulate objects for a couple of seconds. It is nowhere near as advanced as my power.” Ardyn concluded as he began to place the sofa cushions, a few cushions from upstairs, and a few blankets in the middle of the living room floor to make a temporary bed where he and Cor would sleep until they got a new bed. And the wardrobe.

Ardyn was a little cross now. He loved that bed and now the shitty wardrobe, that he didn’t even want, destroyed it. Ardyn was going to try his hardest to convince Cor to let him pick out those two pieces of furniture.

Cor let out a sigh as he placed their pillows down at one side of their makeshift bed. “This is getting out of hand. Daemon summoning, time manipulation, night vision, and teleporting. What else is he going to be able to do? Daemonify people?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course, he can’t do that.” Ardyn laughed, standing up to retrieve their duvet from one of the sofas. 

“Ardyn we only discovered that he could do this tonight. I don’t want him to be in harm’s way. People will get scared if they discover he can do any of that.”

“Oh, sweetheart, do you really think anyone is going to mess with the son of Cor the Immortal and the Adagium? They would have a death wish.” Ardyn laughed again, throwing the duvet in the centre of the room, before taking Cor’s hand and sitting them both down on the sofa.

“You know what I mean. Prom is innocent.” Cor said, letting Ardyn pull him down.

Sometimes, Ardyn thought that Cor was more of a fuss pot than he was. Which he would never say openly in front of his husband in case he kicked him out for implying that Cor had gotten soft. But ever since Prompto had come into their lives, Cor had become more lenient with the guard and he was able to tolerate the council better. Cor still put Regis and Clarus in their place when they were being childish, Ardyn didn’t fault Cor on that. The duo still enjoyed being a pain in the backside and no amount of time would ever change that fact. Cor had definitely become softer over the years and it was all because of their little sunbeam, who was happily sleeping in his own bed tonight, with Cerbie sleeping at the bottom of his bed, protecting him. (Ardyn wasn’t jealous at all. He was perfectly fine with sleeping on the floor) 

Ardyn gave Cor a kiss before snuggling up to him, on the sofa that had no cushions on it. “He is. And he is so lucky to have you as his father. I don’t think anyone could love him as much as you do.”

“That’s a lie, you love him as much as I do.” Cor smiled, enjoying sitting quietly with Ardyn before they decided to bite the bullet and sleep on the floor. Cor was not looking forward to sleeping tonight.

“I do. You’re right, as always.”

“Because I am always right, we do need to tell Regis. We can’t keep this from him.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Ardyn nodded.

* * *

Ardyn went to the Citadel first thing in the morning and he couldn’t find Regis. He tried his nephew’s office, but the door was locked. He was going to go to his quarters or find Noctis. Regis tried to be with Noct as much as he could, for obvious reasons that Ardyn did not like discussing or thinking about. So, he went to the only person who knew Regis’s schedule better than he did, Clarus Amicitia. Also, it helped that his office was attached to the King’s, meaning Ardyn didn’t have to walk far. 

The immortal daemon never cared for anyone’s personal space, so he wandered into the Shield’s office without a care in the world. “Hello, Clarus….”

“Regis is busy.” Clarus said bluntly, not looking up from his computer screen.

_Duh? I wouldn’t be here otherwise._ Ardyn thought to himself as he mentally rolled his eyes. He liked Clarus but he tended to state the obvious and it wound Ardyn up a little. Just a little. “I gathered. Can you give him a message from Cor and I please?”

“Yes.” Clarus replied bluntly again.

He was too focused with getting this work done to be bothered with Ardyn at the moment. As he needed to get this work done quickly before Iris woke up from her nap. Because Jared was ill today, Clarus had to bring her and Gladio into work. Gladio was with Noctis, and little Iris was currently sleeping in a carrier cot next to her father’s desk.

“You don’t even know what it is yet.”

That made Clarus look up from the screen and he let out a very heavy sigh, as he stared at the royal. “Ardyn it’s you. You probably have done something stupid and dangerous, and Regis needs to be made aware in case someone reports you. I will pass the message onto him. No matter what it is.”

“Rude.” Ardyn pouted.

“It’s the truth.”

Before Ardyn could make a comeback, Iris started to cry.

Clarus loved both of his children with all his heart but being a single dad was very hard work and he really needed to get the work, he had been doing since Iris began her nap, done today. He held the bridge of his nose before attempting to rise to his feet to attend to his daughter, but before he stood up she stopped crying. The Shield glanced over to see that Ardyn had picked her up and started bouncing her up and down in his arms. Ardyn may be the scariest creature this world had ever seen, but he was good with children. And they all seemed to love him.

“Now, little Iris do you think that your daddy needs to stop talking to grumpy sleepy uncle Somnus? Because your daddy is being ever so rude to me, and I think my brother put him up to it, what do you think?” Ardyn beamed in a high pitch tone, as Iris started playing with the scarf around his neck, completely ignoring what he had just said.

“I don’t talk to Somnus all the time.” Clarus grumbled, happy to see that Iris was no longer crying.

“Well, being in the same room as him, is enough for anyone to get pulled into his grumpy ways.” Ardyn continued to talk in the same tone as he had used before, while Iris giggled at his voice.

“Is that why you're such an ‘Ass Hat?’”

Ardyn stopped entertaining Iris, before locking eyes with Clarus. He handed the girl over to her father and said very coldly. “Only Cor can call me that.” 

“Just give me the message.” Clarus said pulling his face away from Iris, as she started to smack him in the face.

Ardyn sniggered and composed himself before speaking. Iris was so cute, and she looked a lot like her mother. Ardyn missed Dianella, but he decided he was not going to open up that wound today. He smiled and continued to explain the reason for him being here. “Okay… Let my dear nephew know that Prom can freeze time as well.”

“WHAT!”

That was Regis’s cry from the other side of the side door.

“I take it he’s not that busy.”

* * *

"Prom's not going to forget any of these powers is he?" Cor questioned, deciding that it was pointless trying to fall asleep. The floor was too hard. And they weren't getting a new bed until the weekend.

"He might do." Ardyn replied, fighting back a yawn. He also couldn't fall asleep.

"Let's be realistic." 

"I don't know. We will just have to see." 

Cor didn't like the sound of that. All they could do now was help Prom learn to control his abilities. Hopefully, one day Prom would learn why he had to keep it a secret and the Marshal hoped one day was coming very soon. He could only imagine the chaos if Prom decided to show Noctis his new power. 


	4. Daemon Strength

Somnus was bored and Regis was driving him crazy. Crazy to the point where he couldn’t relax enough to have a nap. To the King’s credit that was an achievement. The Founder King thought only his brother had the capability to annoy him to the level that prevented him from sleeping and because of that Somnus didn’t want to be anywhere near his grandson for the rest of the day.

The most logical place for Somnus to go to was his brother’s house. He could see and spend some time with Prompto, and Ardyn, but mainly Prompto. To his surprise when he knocked on the door, Ardyn didn’t open it and then slam it in his face. Instead Ardyn grabbed Somnus’s arm and dragged him into his house in a very hyperactive manner. Before Somnus could complain about his rude welcoming, Ardyn started to beg him to babysit Prompto tonight so he could take Cor out somewhere on a surprise date. Somnus agreed and soon regretted his decision when he heard something growl at him. That thing was the reason why Somnus hadn’t been round to visit his brother in a few weeks.

Somnus gulped when he locked eyes with the daemon dog and Cerberus looked like he wanted to tear him apart. Maybe he should leave now and just put up with Regis annoying him. However, Noctis was going to come home from school soon and both his grandchildren were going to gang up on him.

Ardyn laughed and wrapped an arm around his brother’s shoulders. ‘Don’t worry little brother. Cerbie isn’t going to hurt you.” 

“He looks like he wants to eat me.” Somnus said, feeling quite comfortable with Ardyn by his side. That was something he never thought would be possible again, actually feeling comfortable with just him and Ardyn. Somnus didn’t care, as long as that thing stayed away from him, he was happy with whatever his brother was doing.

“You worry too much. Cerbie, don’t hurt uncle Somnus please.”

“I am not being ‘uncle Somnus’ to that thing!”

“You will upset Prom if you’re not.” Ardyn said before all three of Cerbie’s heads barked and growled at Somnus, forcing Somnus to back up a bit and stand behind his brother. (More like cower behind Ardyn) Ardyn let out a sniggered before ruffling Somnus’s hair, and because the Founder King was scared he didn’t complain at all. It made Ardyn so happy that Cerbie loved Prom and that he had just scared Somnus. “If you don’t want to get on Cerbie’s bad side Som just accept the title. Cerberus listen to me boy, Somnus is staying over for a few hours to help you look after Prom while Cor and I go out. Please be nice to him or no walk when I get back. Understood.”

Cerbie sneezed, turning away from the brothers before marching himself up to Prom’s room so he no longer had to be in Somnus’s presence.

“He wants me dead.” Somnus cleared his throat failing to hide his discomfort.

“Shame you can’t die then, isn’t it?”

* * *

Ardyn picked Prom up from school and left Somnus in his house with Cerberus so that they could bond a little. Who was he kidding, Ardyn did that on purpose to see if Somnus would wet himself. To Ardyn’s disappointment, his brother didn’t. (Ardyn was such a kind and caring older brother) Once he returned, he kissed Prom on the forehead and left his son in the care of his brother and went to the Citadel to pick Cor up.

When Somnus saw Prompto he immediately relaxed. At least Cerberus wasn’t going to try and attack him with Prom there. They spend most of the evening watching TV and Somnus tried to help Prompto with his homework. But the little boy kept laughing at him as he was getting everything wrong, and it ended with Prom asking if Somnus even went to school. Somnus didn’t reply to that. Once Prompto was fed, Somnus made his lunch for tomorrow, and Prompto went upstairs to play on a video game before bedtime. Because Cerberus didn’t want to be near Somnus he joined Prom upstairs whilst the Founder King rummaged through Ardyn’s things to see if he could find anything that he could pick on Ardyn for. The whole photo of him being buried in the sand got a bit boring to tease him about and Somnus needed to find something fresh to annoy his older brother with.

THUD!

Somnus stopped what he was doing and raced upstairs to check if Prompto was okay as that loud thud noise had definitely come from his nephew’s room. He tapped the door and went in to find Prompto staring down at the floor with Cerberus by his feet, trying to cheer the boy up. Somnus glanced around the room quickly to see if anything had fallen and nothing looked out of place.

_What the hell was that noise? _

“Prom? What are you doing buddy?” Somnus questioned, approaching his nephew with caution so the dog didn’t growl at him. 

“Nothing.” Prompto replied flatly.

_Oh, Astrals above please don’t be upset. _Somnus semi-prayed sitting down next to him. To his surprise, the daemon dog didn’t bark. In fact, he jumped up on the bed next to Somnus and shoved him as an order to ask more questions. Or was it a shove to get him to leave the room? Sometimes Somnus wished he had listened to Ardyn when he attempted to try and teach him to speak daemon. This situation would be a lot easier for him if he had just listened.

Somnus let out a breath full of anxiety and tried to pretend that Cerberus wasn’t there. “You look sad.”

Prompto didn’t reply to that statement. Instead, he turned to his uncle and asked him something completely unrelated. “Why don’t you and dada get on?”

“That is a big question.” Somnus let out a nervous laugh.

“No, it’s not.”

Somnus shouldn’t really be answering this. Ardyn was going to when he felt Prompto was ready to hear it. Cor told Somnus he would also be present so Ardyn didn’t overexaggerate, so Prom didn’t end up hating him. The Founder King was going to change the subject, but the dog pushed his arm again, and that time Somnus swore he felt it’s teeth on him. It looked like he didn’t really have another option but to respond. Maybe if he answered this, Prom might tell him what was bothering him.

“We used too. We used to get on as well as you and Noct do now.”

“What happened?”

Somnus definitely should be leaving this conversation to his brother. This was getting very hard to explain without informing Prom what had taken place. “I… well… we had very different opinions on certain topics and neither of us were very understanding of the other’s view.”

“Do you still have different opinions?” Prompto asked with all the innocent this world had to offer. It made Somnus feel guilty that he couldn’t just tell him the full story, but he was way too young for that topic yet.

“Sometimes, but not on that, we don’t talk about that.”

“Maybe you two should hug and make up. That’s what uncle Regis and uncle Clarus tell Noct and Gladio to do when they fall out.”

“Perhaps we should.” Somnus nodded lightly. How the hell was this child more mature than he was?

“It’s not going to happen though.”

“Probably not.” Somnus laughed. Prompto was very smart for his age and he already understood Ardyn’s and Somnus’s relationship better than the brothers did. At the end of the day, he was just a little sunbeam and that thought made Somnus’s concern grow. And it brought him back to the reason why he came up here in the first place. “Are you going to tell me why you are sad?”

Prompto let out a sigh and shuffled backward. Now Somnus could see that Prompto was trying to hide something, and it was poorly hidden under Prom’s school jumper.

After a pause, Prompto spoke very quietly. “… I broke my controller.”

“How did you do that?” Somnus asked, as Prompto still refused to show him the broken object.

“I don’t really remember.”

“Huh?”

Now that was definitely caused for concern.

“I think I threw it across the room after I broke it in two.” Prompto confirmed before removing the jumper.

The controller wasn’t just broken in two. It was snapped clean in half. Somnus looked at Cerberus who gave him a blank expression and then proceeded to walk up the bed to give Prompto a comforting hug. Right… this was bad. Prompto was only 5 how did he manage to do that! Somnus shouldn’t really be surprised. The kid could manipulate time for the wishful death of Bahamut it was only about time before he had a power that had the potential to harm people. However, Somnus didn’t know if that was the case yet and he really shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions, for Prom only said he broke it. He never said that he did or didn’t use anything to achieve this. 

“Buddy, how did you snap it in two?” Somnus asked but Prom remained silent. The Founder King really needed to know, so when Ardyn and Cor told Regis, he could back them up on not telling the council anything. “You need to tell me. I am not cross.”

Prompto nodded his head and lent back on to Cerbie before responding in a worried tone. “I felt weird. Like my chest was hurting and I wanted to just… hit something. I think… I sort of bent it until it broke. Is there something wrong with me?”

“No, of course, there isn’t. I think you might have been a little angry that’s all.” Somnus said quickly so that his nephew didn’t start panicking. Prom was too pure for this world.

That put a confused expression on Prom’s face. And his voice only confirmed how confused the little boy really was. “Angry? Like when dada tells daddy he has done the dishes when really he just left them in the sink. And then daddy finds outs and starts shouting at dada?”

_Ardyn you are as lazy as me sometimes._ Somnus thought to himself. “A little bit like that. Have you seriously never felt like that before?”

“No. On holiday I didn’t want to leave the beach, but I only cried. I have never got angry before.”

Somnus knew he was a golden child but even that was odd. By Prom’s age, Somnus had nearly knocked Ardyn out, on more than one occasion, in a fit of rage because he was teasing him. Not to mention how angry Regis used to get when he was younger than Prom. That was not normal for Prom to never express that emotion. Somnus had a feeling if he didn’t start expressing anger soon, Prom may accidentally do some real damage when he did get felt like this in the future, which he was bound to feel at some point. He needed to talk to Ardyn and Cor about this.

Right now, it was probably better that Somnus took Prom away from his room to make sure he had properly calmed down.

“How about we go downstairs and watch some cartoons for an hour. And you can protect me from Cerberus.”

“Why are you scared of Cerbie? Cerbie is lovely, aren’t you boy?” Prompto laughed patting his dog on all three of his head’s. Rewarding him with a happy bark.

“To you maybe.” Somnus said quietly, trying not to piss the dog off.

* * *

“Congratulations you two, Prompto is officially your son!”

Somnus called out when he heard the front door opening. His words were met by a groan from Ardyn and a sigh from Cor. They could probably do without the riddles today. But Somnus decided he wanted to be a dick about this. 

“What are you on about?” Cor asked entering his living room to find Somnus with his feet on the coffee table. He was about to quietly ask Somnus to get his feet down before Ardyn saw, as he could do without the shouting. But his husband had already seen, much to the dismay of Cor’s pounding head.

“Get your feet off my coffee table! Now!” Ardyn ordered stepping into the room, preparing to remove Somnus’s feet for him.

“Sorry father.” Somnus replied with a smirk putting his hands in the air and removing his feet. Somnus clicked his fingers and the broken controller parts fell into his hands. “I mean this. Prom snapped it in half because he was angry. Because of that, he is definitely your child.”

“This isn’t funny Somnus.” Cor barked, taking the items from his brother-in-law to inspect the damage. This was exactly what he didn’t need now. In the space of two fucking weeks, Prompto had shown them that he had three new powers. When was this going to stop? This was so much harder to keep a secret now.

Ardyn scowled. “No, it isn’t. That thing cost us 50 Gil.”

“Ardyn. Really? Is that what are you worried about? Not that our 5-year-old son had snapped a ‘solid’ object clean in two?”

“It was expensive.” Ardyn explained defending himself and Cor didn’t like that. 

The Marshal let out a grunt of frustration and quietly said. “Fuck off.”

“Darling calm down. Prom is part daemon. He was bound to get the strength of one, there is no point stressing over something we cannot change.”

Tonight was supposed to take Cor’s mind off of all this. Ever since the tree incident Cor had been constantly worrying about Prom’s powers and at this rate, he was going to make himself ill. Ardyn was just grateful that they had got a new bed otherwise Cor would over stress and not be sleeping. Ardyn, on the other hand, wasn’t at all stressed. Because they had told Prom that he wasn’t to show anyone his powers and their son always listened to them. However, Ardyn knew for a fact Prom told Noct everything. He just hoped that Cor didn’t realise that… otherwise, Cor was probably going to implode with stress. 

All that money spent on that holiday was clearly a waste of time now…

Somnus shrugged his shoulder’s remaining in the chair. “Cor, it’s not that big of an issue. Ardyn loses it often and you can calm him down with no problem. All you have to do is either calm Prom down or make sure he doesn’t get angry with anyone around. Problem solved.”

“Thank you, Somnus.” Ardyn gritted his teeth at his younger brother to get him to button it. That advice was clearly not going to help Cor at all.

Cor placed the broken controller parts on the coffee table and sat down, on the unoccupied sofa, banging his head against the top of it. Regis had already wound him up today by keeping secrets from him and Clarus and all Cor wanted to do when he got in, was to have a coffee, then a shower and go to sleep. Was that really too much to ask? Why did he have to come home to this?

Right, he had to get his head in the game now. The Marshal cleared his throat before addressing Somnus. “Did he tell you what he was angry about?”

“… umm… I didn’t ask.” Somnus said not keeping eye contact with Cor. He knew there was something he had forgotten to do earlier.

Ardyn laughed, sitting down next to his husband, before grilling his brother for his incompetence. “Heavens knows how any of your children actually made it past the age of 10 without running away because you lacked the ability to show an interest in them.”

“Think of something original please.”

“I would. But that would require me to actually think about you for a solid minute straight. It gets ever so boring.”

Cor knocked Ardyn’s hat off his head, to get his attention, before snapping at the brother’s. “Both of you shut up.”

Cor was trying to think of all the options available to them to help Prom, and their bickering was not helping his thought process nor his headache.

“Cor darling, I know it will be fine. Stop stressing.” Ardyn smiled, fighting the urge to play with his hair in front of Somnus. Cor would more than likely scream the house down if Ardyn even tried it at the moment.

“Just take him to an anger management class.” Somnus suggested, checking the time on his phone. It was way past his bedtime.

“I can think of two people who need that.”

Cor laughed at the irony and left to get a cup of coffee and some painkillers before he said anything he would regret. Ardyn and Somnus left him to it. He looked like he needed a bit of space at the moment.

The brother’s sat in silence for a minute before Ardyn asked, in a rather innocent tone:

“He was referring to us, right?”

“Yes, Ardyn.”

* * *

In the morning Cor went to work to train the recruits at 5:30 but he took his break early and made sure he was back in time to talk to Prom before he went to school. He wanted to get to the bottom of his child’s distress. When he asked Prompto what the matter was, he replied with: ‘I lost at the game I was playing.’ Which cause Cor to get even more worried because he couldn’t stand the thought of his child accidentally causing anyone harm because ‘he lost at a game.’ Being a parent was fucking hard. Especially when he had to look after Ardyn, who also acted like a child and couldn’t see anything wrong with the situation they had found themselves in. From there, Cor took Prompto to school and returned to work only to be summoned to Ardyn’s office when he arrived.

Ardyn was sat at his desk and explained to Cor that didn’t believe that Prompto was telling the truth and that he shouldn’t be worried. And that they would find the real solution to Prom’s uncharacteristic spurt of anger last night. Because Cor was getting worked up over nothing, Ardyn tried to come up with a suggestion. 

“…we can bring this ability up to Dr. Mars.”

“No, we can’t.” Cor shook his head, itching to get back to work so he could relieve this built-up tension forming in his chest.

“He’s a professional, My Marshal. He deals with this type of behaviour all the time. I know I was a healer in the past, but I am not qualified as a therapist. Otherwise, I would be happy to deal with this myself.”

“Maybe if you went to one yourself, you would know how to control your anger and Dr. Mars wouldn’t be an option.” Cor snapped.

He shouldn’t have said that. Cor finally properly looked at Ardyn and he could tell he was offended by his words. Great, now Ardyn was going to be in a mood for the rest of the day.

Ardyn clicked his tongue and lent back in his chair. “Don’t get cross at me for our son possessing daemon powers.”

“I am not cross at you. I am cross at the twat, that did this to our son.”

“You should have let me tear him apart.” Ardyn sighed, pushing down his anger. Even the mention of that man set his teeth on edge.

“Yes. I know.”

“So… can I?”

“No!” Cor shouted.

He had not intended to do that at all. Now anyone that had walked past probably thought that they were having an argument. Rumours flew fast around here, and he didn’t need Regis getting involved. Shit, he still had to tell Regis what Prom did… “I need to go back to work.”

“If I let you go back to work now, half of the poor guard will quit out of fear and the others will wet themselves. When you have relaxed you can go back and not before. And that is an order Marshal Leonis.” Ardyn smiled seeing Cor’s face sour. But he did as he was told and stayed where he had been standing. Cor was definitely going to get another migraine at this rate. Ardyn rolled his chair over to Cor and held on to his hand before kissing his knuckles. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Cor smiled briefly before taking up Ardyn’s invitation to sit on his lap. 

Ardyn wrapped his arms around Cor’s waist and nuzzled his face into his back. “Now, shall we talk properly about this, without getting cross at each other?”

“Yes.” Cor grumbled, keeping an eye on the door in case anyone came in.

“Ooo are you grumpy, Marshal Leonis?”

“Shut up, Your Grace.”


	5. Levitation

Ardyn knew he should be somewhere right now… but the thing was he couldn’t think where.

Which was sort of worrying considering, he currently had Prompto, Noctis and Gladiolus in his care. The three little boys were making a complete mess of Cor’s office. They were running around and throwing books and fairly important documents at each other. (Noct and Gladio were doing that. Prom was too pure to ever do such a thing) All the while Ardyn was sitting at his husband’s desk still trying to think of what he should be doing. He honestly hoped that it wasn’t playing a game of chess with his brother. Somnus would hold it over him for weeks if he didn’t turn up.

It wasn’t anyone’s birthday, was it?

“Let’s play hide and seek!” Noctis shouted, causing Ardyn to look at his nephew.

Sometimes Noctis was quieter than Prom. Other times, he was louder than a behemoth. Ardyn knew all children were the same, but Noctis took it to a whole another level. Ardyn and Noctis were similar in that respect. 

“That’s the best idea you have ever had Princess.” Gladio smirked, knowing full well that would get on the Prince’s nerves.

“Gladiolus. Play nice.” Ardyn warned before Noct took offense to the name-calling. _Honestly, why couldn’t they get along? This was probably karma for years and years of bickering with Somnus._

“Sorry.”

“Why isn’t Iggy here?” Prom asked sweetly looking at the door as if he was expecting the little Scientia to walk through the door at any moment. Prom melted Ardyn’s blacken scourge infested heart with his cuteness.

Ardyn’s eyes widened. Could he, Prom and Cor be missing an appointment with Dr. Mars? No. Cor would have told him this morning… or maybe he forgot too. Ardyn clicked his fingers as he suddenly remembered he was sitting at Cor’s desk. Cor would have surely written it down if that was the case. As Ardyn was searching through the draws Noctis answered Prom’s question: 

“His uncle is teaching him something. Now let’s play.”

Ardyn got out Cor’s work diary and found the date but he was denied a chance to read what was written underneath, as he felt someone tug at his coat. He looked down and saw his sunbeam of a child smiling up at him.

“Dada, do you want to play hide and seek with us?”

“Come on uncle Ardyn! It will be fun!” Noctis shouted running up next to Prompto and started violently tugging at his coat.

What in the name of the Six had Noctis eaten today? A bowl full of sugar? Ardyn rolled his eyes and looked at Gladio who had the same look of hope in his eyes as Prom and Noct did. When they looked at him like that it was always hard to refuse whatever their little hearts desired. Especially Prom. Ardyn put the diary down and prepared himself for a game of hide and seek. Even after 2000 years this game never seemed to get old.

“Since you asked so nicely, I will join in.”

Noct and Prom cheered and quickly ran over to Gladio. _What were they up to now?_

“You’re counting.” Gladio laughed pointing at him and Prompto and Noctis happily agreed with the young Shield.

Of course, that was the real reason why they wanted him to join in. Children were sneaky buggers when they wanted to be. But he said he would and he couldn’t go back on his word. Not to mention that he was currently in charge of them so if they disappeared somewhere and he didn’t follow them he was going to be in trouble.

Regis could be worryingly scary when he was in a bad mood.

Ardyn nodded. “I will count on one condition. And that is none of you are to leave this floor. Understood.”

“Yes.” The three boys said in unison.

“Good. Off you pop.”

Ardyn watched as all of them ran out of Cor’s office to go and hide.

He started counting to 100 to give them enough time to find a good hiding spot. But he ended up getting a bit distracted as he thought of more possible places where he should be right now.

He wasn’t meant to be on the phone to Queen Sylva for Regis, was he?

Ardyn would be in so, so, so much trouble if he was meant to be doing that...

* * *

Ardyn completely forgot that he was supposed to be counting until he heard Cor’s voice.

“What are you doing in here?”

“Counting.” Ardyn simply replied.

The royal glanced at the clock and 10 minutes had passed since the boys ran to find a hiding place. He was a little surprised that they hadn’t come running back telling him he was lazy and that he was terrible at this game. He should really go and find them.

“You do know I have to work.” Cor said standing in front of Ardyn, purposely towering over his husband.

“Yes, I will be gone in a moment. The boys have forced me to play hide and seek with them.” Ardyn smiled up at Cor and noticed that the Marshal had developed a knowing smirk on his face. That wasn’t fair that Cor knew something he didn’t. No one in this city was allowed to know more than him. Ardyn narrowed his eyes and whined up at Cor. “Why are you smirking at me?”

“Because a pair of 5-year-olds and an 8-year-old have you wrapped around their fingers.” Cor continued to smirk and then started to laugh when Ardyn’s face turned into a frown.

“No, they don’t.”

“Really? You were meant to be in a meeting with myself, your brother and Clarus half an hour ago, and instead of turning up the children ‘forced you’ to play a game with them. They have got you exactly where they want you.”

Ardyn let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t really need to be there it was just to discuss the guard. At least it wasn’t anything too important and if Ardyn was honest he would much rather sit here and be ordered about by a bunch of children than work out the budget for the guard. Wait a second why was he even looking after them again… that’s right. Noctis had begged him to look after them. Originally Ardyn said no, but Noct blackmailed him and said that if he didn’t he would miss out on spending time with his son and nephews. Which made Ardyn feel guilty and…

“Now tell me I am wrong.” Cor laughed, saving Ardyn’s mind from spiraling down a pit of guilt. 

“Touché My Marshal. Because you pointed that out to me you can help me find them.” Ardyn smiled, still unable to stand up as Cor had placed himself between his desk and the chair Ardyn was sitting on.

“I don’t think so. Unlike you, I am actually busy.”

Ardyn grew a cat-like smile and held on to Cor’s hand as he explained the situation to him in the neediest voice he had used all day. “But you just said the children have got me wrapped around their fingers. Therefore, I need someone to help me who is brilliant at tracking and who can save me from their cuteness and prevent me from crumbling to their every whim. Also, Regis, Clarus and yourself will have my knees if I can’t find any of them.”

“Why do I put up with you again?” Cor asked, still unable to release his hands from Ardyn’s, as he moved out of the way so the man could stand up.

“Because you love me!”

* * *

“Do you know what Regis is up too?” Ardyn asked as the pair walked through the corridors.

Cor glanced at his husband for a second and frowned. “Funny. I was going to ask you the same thing.”

“He’s your best friend. You should know.”

“Ass Hat, he’s your nephew. If anyone should know, it should be either yourself or Somnus… Or Clarus.”

Ardyn wagged a finger at Cor and tutted as they continued to walk. “Ah, ah, my Marshal. You married me. Which makes Regis your great, times an awful lot, grand-nephew as well as your best friend, and he is your honorary older brother. Therefore, it is more frowned upon that you don’t know what he is up too.”

“Shut up.” Cor mumbled. He hated it when Ardyn was right.

Ardyn and Cor continued to walk in the same direction until they saw a pair of green and white trainers sticking out from underneath one of the curtains. They wouldn’t have spotted them if the fabric of the curtain wouldn’t stop moving of its ‘own’ accord. And they knew exactly who those shoes belonged too.

Ardyn smiled as he drew back the curtain and laughed when he saw his son’s face drop. “Prompto my darling, that is a terrible hiding place.”

“Leave him alone.” Cor huffed.

Prom pouted as he got out of his hiding place but when he saw Cor his little face lit up like a Christmas tree. He ran past Ardyn and wrapped his arms around Cor’s left leg.

“Daddy! Did dada convince you to play?!”

“Yeah. Where’s Noctis and Gladio?” Cor asked, ruffling Prom’s hair.

Cor didn’t really want the rest of the guard knowing that he was playing hide and seek. It wasn’t really an issue he just didn’t want them to know he was a lot softer than they gave him credit for. Also, Cor had been told by Clarus that he needed to verify and submit all the guard’s holiday requests before 4, otherwise he was going to have a lot of angry members of the guard on his case tomorrow.

“My Marshal! That is cheating!” Ardyn exclaimed pretending to be shocked that Cor would violate the sacred rules of hide and seek.

“I don’t care and neither do you. When have you ever stuck to the rules?”

“About… 2000 years ago.”

“And you became immortal as a result.”

“Rub salt in the wound why don’t you.” Ardyn crossed his arms before going back to look around the hallway to see if he could spot Noct or Gladio anywhere.

Ardyn thought that the three of them wouldn’t have strayed too far from each other. But it looked as though they had. There was one ability that every single member of the Lucis Caelum family seemed to possess. And that was if they didn’t want to be found it wasn’t happening, not for a couple of hours anyhow. Regis was a right menace for this exact thing when he was younger and now. And Somnus wasn’t any better but he was probably asleep if you couldn’t find him. Ardyn thought, considering how much Noctis and Gladio disliked being around each other, one of them would have come running to him gladly telling him where the other one had hidden. But that was not the case.

_Where had they got to? They better not have left this floor! _

Prompto smiled and answered Cor’s question. “They’re not here. Let’s go and check one of the rooms.”

Before either Cor or Ardyn agreed to keep searching they heard a giggling sound. 

“Did you hear that?” Ardyn questioned, looking down the corridor again.

“No.” Prompto said as he started to pull at Cor’s leg to get him to move.

“I heard it too.”

“No, you didn’t. Let’s go.” Prom said again, trying his hardest to get his dads to leave.

Cor and Ardyn gave each other a weird look before looking down at their son, who was still trying to move Cor. Their little sunbeam was a terrible liar. Which for them was definitely a good thing, as it meant there would be no secrets between them. Well, when Prom caught on to the fact he sucked at lying.

Just as Cor was about to push Prom to tell them why he wanted them to leave they heard Gladio’s voice coming from above them.

“Uncle Cor!”

“Uncle Ardyn!”

Upon hearing Noctis’s voice, Cor and Ardyn snapped their heads up to the ceiling to see both the Prince and the young Shield floating in mid-air. The boys were waving at them with smiles on their faces but both Ardyn and Cor were as far away from smiling as possible.

“Levitation as well...” Ardyn said bewildered with what he was seeing.

Weren’t they scared that they could possibly fall? No?

“Ardyn get them down now!” Cor ordered, pushing Ardyn underneath were Noctis was floating, while he moved to catch Gladio in case he fell.

“I’ll do it.” Prompto said with pride as he let go of Cor’s leg. He lifted his hands in the air and slowly brought Noctis and Gladio down so that Cor and Ardyn could grab them so that they were both out of harm's way. Once the boys had been placed on the ground Prompto cheered. “There we go.”

“That was so fun! See uncle Ardyn, Prom is more fun than you.” Noctis nodded as he went to stand next to Prom.

“Prom’s it.” Gladio replied hoping to start the next round of the game.

Cor put his foot down. Enough was simply enough. He took hold of Prom’s hand and led him back towards his office. “No, he isn’t. Prompto is coming with me. Ardyn, take them to Noctis’s nanny now!”

Once the pair left the hallway, Noctis turned to look up at his uncle.

“Why is uncle Cor mad? We were only having fun.”

“Because that was a little dangerous Noct.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Yes, it was.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Yes, it was.”

“No, it wasn’t, times 100.”

“Yes, it was, times 200.”

And that argument lasted until Ardyn found Regis in the nursery searching for Noctis.

* * *

Cor sat Prompto down on his desk and spoke firmly at him. That was way too dangerous for his liking. And he was cross that Prompto had blatantly ignored what he had said and showed Noctis his powers.

Again.

“Prompto Leonis, you need to listen to me. Dada and I have both told you that you can’t show anyone your powers.”

“We were only playing.” Prom said, still not really understanding why he was in trouble. It was only Noct and Gladio after all.

“That’s not the point. I don’t want people…” Cor took a pause to breathe through his nose before softening his voice. “…I am telling you this to protect you. No one but you and dada have these powers and people don’t always feel comfortable knowing that.”

“It was only Noct and Gladio.”

“You’re not understanding what I am saying.” Cor really wanted to avoid using the fear tactic on his son. But unfortunately, this was what it had come down to. “Have you noticed that not many people at the Citadel like dada?”

Prom nodded. “Yeah. But that’s because of the scourge.”

“It is and they are scared of him because they think he is going to hurt them. We know dada would never do that, but some people think he would. And you having these powers, people might think the same of you. I know you would never hurt anyone. Regis, Clarus, Somnus, and dada know you would never hurt anyone either, but I am only saying this to help you and stop people thinking that way.”

Prompto looked confused for a moment. Then his face turned into a frown. Cor hoped that meant his words had finally sunk in. 

“So, I shouldn’t use them at all?”

“Yes. No.” _Why is this so hard to _explain_?_ Cor didn’t want Prom to feel he had to hide himself away but at the same time, him using them was not a good idea. The Marshal knew he had to find some middle ground here. Prompto was already fragile enough he didn’t want him threating over this, he just wanted to keep his son safe. “Like I said before. You should only use them when dada is training you, or if you or someone else is in danger. Otherwise, you shouldn’t use them. I am not telling you this to scare you, I am trying to help you because I love you. Do you understand?”

Prompto nodded and wrapped his arms around Cor’s neck to hug him. “Yes, daddy. I promise to only use them when I am in uncle Somnus’s training hall with dada or if someone is in danger. I love you too daddy.”

“Thank you, for understanding, mate.”

* * *

A week went by and there had been no further incidences. Much to Cor’s relief. And since Prompto had displayed a new power Ardyn had been helping him understand how to get the hang of it. To his surprise Prompto already seemed quite advanced with this power.

And under no circumstances was Ardyn telling Cor that. Cor would probably have a heart attack with that knowledge and to ensure that Cor wouldn’t get cross at him, Ardyn did not ask Prom how long he had that power for. Every time Prom went to tell him, Ardyn stopped him. It was better for everyone if Prompto kept that to himself.

On the bright side, Cor seemed a lot less stressed and Regis had stopped panicking. Still… Ardyn had no idea what his nephew had been up too in the last few weeks. He hadn’t gotten himself a new girlfriend, had he? Because Ardyn was certain Noctis was not going to take very well to that news. 

Cor got into bed and shuffled to get comfy. “I think he is finally understanding.”

“Maybe…” Ardyn sighed, turning the page of the novel he was reading.

“Ardyn don’t.” Cor warned.

“You’re the one who wanted to be realistic about it. Prompto is only 5 after all.”

“You don’t think he has any more powers, do you?” Cor asked, hoping this headache had ended.

Ardyn put the book down and rolled on his side to face Cor. “I wouldn’t have thought so but I have been wrong before. Can you imagine if he is able to change his appearance? How funny would that be?”

Ardyn started to laugh. Ardyn always found that power the most entertaining. He had used Somnus’s appearance many times and he loved messing with everyone’s heads. On the odd occasion, if Somnus was feeling too lazy to do something he would give Ardyn permission to use his appearance to do the job for him. But all Ardyn could picture was two little Noct’s running around confusing the hell out of everyone. He would love it if Prom had that power. Just think of all the chaos they could achieve together…

“I love you but do me a favour and shut up.” Cor asked kissing Ardyn to get him to stop talking.

Ardyn hummed in delight, kissing Cor back before quickly rolling on top of him. Ardyn positioned himself on Cor’s waist and gave him a devilish smirk as he pulled away from the kiss.

“My darling… do you want me to shut up now? Because I am planning on making a lot of noise.” 


	6. Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found a spare few hours in the day to finish this. 
> 
> I hope you have all enjoyed this fic, it has been a pleasure to share. And thank you to all the support this series had got. I can't express how much it means to me.
> 
> So let's finish the story :)

Little Prompto decided it was for the best that he listened to his dads and did not use his powers anymore. Even when Noctis asked, Prompto refused because no one was in trouble and he wasn’t in Somnus’s training area with Ardyn. Noctis was, of course, disappointed but he didn’t hold it over Prom at all as he knew how scary his uncle Ardyn and Cor could be if they got mad. And because Prompto had listened to his dads he was rewarded with his first royal gala dinner. Being Ardyn’s son he got to sit at the same table as the royal family and more importantly he was trusted enough to sit by Noctis. Prom was excited about attending this event because he finally felt like he was one of the grown-ups and to mark the special occasion Ardyn brought Prom a tuxedo to wear to the event. Ardyn of course never bothered with dressing up and just wore the same old thing, much to the stress of Somnus and Regis.

Prom felt incredibly proud of himself and when he and Ardyn stepped into the grand hall Prom was amazed at all the wonderful and sparkly things hanging from the ceiling. The room was packed full of people and Ardyn tried his best to manoeuvre through the place without having a Lord or Lady come up and speak to him or admire his son’s cuteness. He got stopped a few times but all he had to say to get out of that ghastly situation was: ‘The King has requested my presence.’ With that, they left him alone.

Just as they were about to get to their table Ardyn shook Prom’s hand so his son would look up at him.

“Now, Prompto this might get a little boring, but can you please stay in your seat tonight. I want you where I can see you for the whole night, okay?”

“Yes, dada. Why can’t daddy sit with us?” Prompto asked, looking around to see if he could spot Cor anywhere. Prom knew that Cor was working tonight. It was his and Clarus’s job to keep an eye on things and protect Regis and Noctis. But surely he could take a little break and sit and have with dinner them.

Prom’s lack of understanding made Ardyn laugh. He was simply too precious for this world. “Because he is on patrol tonight. But don’t worry, daddy has already eaten…” _Hopefully_ “…and is going to make sure everyone is safe. Anyway, tonight we get to eat with Noct, Regis and Somnus for a change.”

Prompto smiled at his dada and then turned to the table and saw Noctis. His smile grew wider when Noctis finally caught sight of him. The little prince was wearing a similar thing to him and started to wave Prom and Ardyn over.

“PROM!”

“NOCT!” Prompto waved back and pulled Ardyn along to the table.

Which made Ardyn snigger. Prompto was starting to become a rather demanding child.

Regis was sat at the center of the table with Somnus and Ardyn either side of him. Next to Ardyn sat Noctis and Prom sat next to him. Clarus was standing in the shadows behind Regis with two of the glaive next to him. And dotted around the room was many other guard and glaive there just in case they were needed, and by the two entrances stood Cor and Drautos. Because every single member of the royal family was here tonight security was tight. No one was coming in or out without anyone noticing.

Both the little princes were starstruck with how many people had attended tonight. They had only ever heard their parents and Somnus complain about it but they thought this was amazing. They thought the little tea lights on the table were beautiful and the food looked odd but tasted good. The only boring part of this whole thing was listening to Regis speak for 20 minutes straight. But other than that the pair enjoyed it and whenever Prom spotted Cor he would give him a wave. Instead of getting a wave back, he would receive a smile and a nod. Noctis turned and ask Ardyn why Cor wasn’t with them, considering he was technically a member of the royal family, and he got two answers. The first was mumbled and Noct didn’t quite catch what was said. But he thought Ardyn said something along the lines of: ‘you wouldn’t see Cor dead at this table.’ But his next reply was: ‘Cor is the Marshal of the Crownsguard, therefore it is more important that he protects you than be the protected.’

After dinner was done, everyone was ushered into the ballroom. Regis was the first to stand up and go, with Clarus following close behind him, but a Lord soon approached the King and started to converse with him about the outer regions of Lucis. More people started to crowd the King and eventually, Clarus was pushed to the side, and Regis told him not to panic and that he was fine. Clarus tried his best to keep up with the King but he lost him in the crowd. He began to panic and pushed his way through but he could no longer spot his best friend and no one seemed alarmed that the King had disappeared.

Ardyn and Somnus followed close behind the crowd holding on to Prom’s and Noct’s hands and they had no idea what had taken place but the brothers knew something wasn’t right, as they spotted Clarus on his own rushing about.

Prom felt Ardyn’s hand tense up. Prom didn’t know much about these things, but he knew Regis, Somnus, and his dada didn’t stray far from each other. Prompto turned to Noct and asked quietly. “Where’s your dad?”

“I don’t know.” Noctis said in a worried voice, before pulling at Somnus’s hand. And his grip had also gotten tighter as Somnus pulled Noctis closer to him. “Grandad, where’s dad?”

“That is what I am trying to figure out.” Somnus responded plainly. Within a few seconds, Clarus came running up to them and Somnus’s voice turned to one of concern. “Clarus, where’s Regis?”

“I can’t find him.”

“Shit.” Ardyn said sharply, before picking Prom up and gesturing for Somnus to place Noctis in his other arm. Somnus didn’t hesitate to pick the Prince of Lucis up and hand him over.

A group of the guard started to form around the royals while Clarus got his phone out and quickly called Cor to see if he knew anything.

“Cor, we can’t locate Regis anywhere…. When was the last time you saw him?... Right, order the guard to check the perimeter and get Drautos to do the same with the glaive. Do your best to keep it quiet.” Clarus put the phone down and immediately started to tell Somnus and Ardyn what was going to happen. “We need to be calm about this. Ardyn, take the Prince’s somewhere safe. Somnus, you and I will look for Regis.”

In a flash, Ardyn had teleported himself and the boys out of the hall and hurried through the corridors to a secure location. Ardyn really hoped that this was nothing and that Regis had just gone to the toilet without telling anyone again. But it was better to be safe and sorry and his main priority was to the children at the moment. They were both far too important to him and to the future of this world to be put in harm's way. They came to a room hidden somewhere at the venue and once he had put both Noctis and Prompto safely in a corner, Ardyn erected a pink wall inside the room so no one could come in. 

Ardyn stood by the door, just waiting to see if they had been followed and was ready to attack if he needed too. He heard the teary voice of his youngest nephew behind him. “Ardyn… Where’s my dad gone?”

“Don’t worry Noct, Clarus and Grandad will find him.” Ardyn smiled as he looked over his shoulder. He couldn’t really move from his spot to comfort Noctis but Prompto was way ahead of him.

Prompto hung on to Noctis tightly and let the raven-haired prince cry on his shoulder. “It’s okay Noct. It’s Clarus’s job to protect your dad. He will be fine.”

“I guess your right.” Noctis sniffed and hung on to Prompto, praying that his dad was okay.

* * *

“Cor, have you got anything to report?” Clarus asked down the phone, as he and Somnus stalked around the ballroom to see if they could spot Regis. But nothing. And some of the guests were starting to notice that Regis, Ardyn and both the Prince’s had vanished.

_“Nothing. I’ve sent two of the Glaive and Guard to go to your house to keep Iris and Gladio safe.” _

“Thank you.” Clarus let go a sigh of relief. They had been at the front of his mind since Regis had disappeared, but duty prevented him from acting upon the love he had for his children. He was so grateful that Cor had done what he couldn’t right now.

_“Drautos and I have sent the guard and glaive to search the entire venue and go through the CTV footage. There is nothing we won’t miss. We will also keep the line open and contact you the moment we get any news.” _

“Good work.” Clarus said before ending his conversation with Cor. Something was wrong. Clarus could feel it. He was about to relay his fears to Somnus, but the Founder King spoke before he got a chance too.

“He’s not dead. I would be able to sense it if his magic suddenly stopped. At least we know that much.”

Those were not comforting words. But right now it was the only thing they had to go on.

* * *

“Noct…” Prom said softly as he placed a hand on Noctis’s back as the Prince cried. He didn’t want to see his best friend like this. And when Noct spoke to him, Prom felt his tiny heartbreak.

“I just want my dad.” Noctis buried his face into his knees and continued sobbing.

Prompto hugged Noctis again and looked over to his dada who was still staring at the door. Ardyn had left the comforting to Prom and told the boys to stay put. They weren’t to move from that spot even to get his attention. Yes, Prom was scared. He was scared that something bad had happened to his uncle Regis but the love he had for Noctis outweighed the fear and he made up his mind.

“I’ll get him for you.” Prompto whispered letting go of Noct.

“Wait Pro-” Noctis started to say but Prom vanished and Noctis started to scream. “Prompto! ARDYN! ARDYN!”

Upon hearing Noctis’s cries, Ardyn immediately turned around and saw Noctis run up to him in floods of tears. But he couldn’t see Prompto. “Noct! What’s wrong?!”

“Prom’s gone! He just disappeared.” Noctis cried latching on to his leg.

Ardyn’s heart dropped. He rapidly scanned the room with his eyes and Noctis was right Prom had vanished. Ardyn wanted to leave and find his child but he couldn’t. He wasn’t allowed to leave Noctis on his own and at the moment it would be the stupidest thing he could ever do. The daemons, on the other hand, wanted him to leave the Chosen to his own devices but he had to push that down. Noctis was far too important to be left alone. But equally, he couldn’t leave Prom to wander about on his own anything could happen to him. Ardyn immediately rang Cor and cursed when he didn’t pick up after the first call. Cor picked up on the second ring.

_“Have you found Regis?” _Cor asked in a hopeful voice.

“No! Prom has teleported somewhere, and I can’t leave Noct!” Ardyn said close to tears as he felt Noctis wrap himself around his leg.

Cor paused for a moment. When he finally spoke he used the calmest tone he could, despite now being extremely worried. _“Don’t panic. Stay put and I will send someone to find him.” _

“He’s our son! You find him!” Ardyn roared down the phone forgetting Noctis was with him.

_“Calm down. Noctis is with you and he is terrified.” _

“I am sorry Noct. Come here my darling. Everything will be okay.” Ardyn said, picking Noctis up and cradling him in his arms like he did when he was a baby. Noctis wept harder, now crying for both his dad and best friends safe return.

_“I’ll find your dad Noct, and I’ll find Prompto. Stay together and be safe.”_

* * *

Prompto ran through the hallways of this foreign place desperate to try and find Regis for Noctis. Prompto knew if he found Regis everyone would be happy and stop stressing. Sooner rather than later he heard muffled sounds coming from the hallway that was joint on to the one he was running down. He turned the corner and found Regis.

Prompto smiled at his discovery but a smile was soon wiped off his face when he saw someone in front of Regis in a Crownsguard uniform pushing him up against the wall. Prompto froze and didn’t move from the spot. And when he heard Regis talk his voice was a mixture between calm and controlled, but there was a hint of fear hidden within.

“Sir, please calm down.”

“SHUT UP!” The man screamed and Prompto saw a silver thing held at Regis’s throat. “You are not in charge here do you understand!”

Prompto started to get scared and he hid behind one of the many statues that littered this hallway. He held his little hands together and began to tear up in fear. He didn’t know what to do. All he knew was that someone was trying to hurt his uncle Regis and no one was around to help.

“Of course, sir. I am sorry. I am only trying to help you.”

Prompto covered his mouth to hold back a whimper when he heard the man scream again. “Help?! Like how you helped when my home was burnt to the ground because your father scaled the wall back! I watched my mother and father burn to death because of you and your family!”

“I am sorry that happened…” Regis said in a saddened tone, but he was cut off as the man continued to scream.

“No, you’re not! Otherwise, you would have extended the wall when you took the throne! What King are you?! What sort of King could stand by and watch your own people die?!”

“A poor one. Put the knife down, so we can talk about this rationally.”

“No!”

Prompto’s breathing increased as he heard people running towards him. But they weren’t interested in him. Some of them were guard and glaive but three of them were wearing very posh and fancy clothes. They were probably the people that his dads hated and made fun off. The council members.

“Your Majesty!” The council member closest to the King shouted in a panic.

The mood suddenly changed. Prom heard a ruffling sound and Regis wincing in pain. It forced Prompto to poke his head out of his hiding spot and his heart rate got faster and faster and all he wanted was for his dada to come in and take him away from this. The sight before him was going to give him nightmares. The man had now gotten behind Regis, holding the knife at his throat as he started to drag the King away from the group.

“Stand back! Or I swear to the Gods I will kill him!” The man shouted again and Regis held out a hand at the group to tell them to stop.

“Listen to him!” Regis ordered, before going back to try and reason with the man again in a quiet voice. But because he was far away Prompto couldn’t make out what they were saying. But he could hear what one of the council members said to one of the glaives.

“Contact Lord Amicitia and his Former Majesty now.”

The glaive ran away and Prompto looked back at Regis. He looked so scared and Prompto knew exactly how he was feeling. He wanted to run and hide too. But he made a promise to Noct to get his dad back. He couldn’t quit now he had to help Regis somehow.

“Tell me what you want?” Regis asked a little louder than before, in a semi-breathless voice.

“I want you to suffer just like I suffered!” The man sounded so angry, it reminded Prom of the bad man.

“That’s understandable.”

“DO NOT PRETEND YOU UNDERSTAND MY PAIN!” The man roared and Prompto saw the man’s arm pull back.

Prompto jumped out of his hiding place, ran passed the group so he could get to his uncle. The little boy screamed with all his might and his hand reached out to try and stop the person from hurting Regis.

“REGIS! NO!”

All of a sudden, the knife flew out of the man’s hand and the man was pushed back a good 10 feet away from the King. Unlike the rest of the group who couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed, Regis immediately started to ran towards his nephew and picked him up as the guard and glaive surrounded the pair to protect them from the man. A shield was then placed around the group by the King and Regis hung on to Prompto who had started to cry. The man was soon captured by the glaive and taken as far away from the King as possible. Once the coast was clear, the group stayed in a circle around Regis and Prompto and hurried them to a safer location so they could both be protected. 

Regis rubbed Prom’s back and whispered words of comfort and thanks to him. Gods knows what would have happened if Prompto hadn’t come and found him.

* * *

Once the group had found where Ardyn and Noctis were huddled up, Ardyn teleported them to the safety of the Citadel.

The family stayed together and waited for Somnus to return. The Founder King decided to stay behind to deal with all the crap. Which included, counting how many people had turned up to the event, who was on duty and dealing with the council after they had discovered what Prom could do. Usually, Cor would have stayed too, but Somnus ordered Cor to go back with Clarus and make sure that Ardyn was stable and to keep Regis and Noctis safe. For the Marshal would be more useful there than anywhere else right now. When Cor and Clarus arrived, Regis explained what had happened. The man, who was clearly not a member of the Crownsguard, had taken the King to one side in order to ‘save’ him from interrogation and once he had Regis to himself, he pulled a knife on him and forced him to leave the safety of the ballroom. And if it wasn’t for Prom’s bravery, he probably wouldn’t be alive. Prompto thought he was going to get told off for using his powers but he got nothing but praise from his dads, Regis, and Clarus for being so brave. That was when Prom finally realised that he had used his powers at the right time, and he had helped his uncle.

They remained there for six hours and not once did Noctis leave Regis’s side and the little Prince fell asleep in his dad's arms. Prom did the same thing but in Cor’s arms.

Somnus entered the room and gave them the all-clear. “Everyone has been accounted for and that man has been locked up. Guards are posted outside every room and no one is getting through those doors tonight.”

“Thank you, Grandfather.” Regis nodded, holding his son closer to him. At least it was over now.

Somnus turned to Ardyn and shrugged his shoulders. “The council have said that they are furious that they were not informed of Prom’s powers.”

“Did they?! Even after they saw that he saved the King of Lucis’s life!” Ardyn spat back, stroking Prom’s hair, as his son continued to sleep in Cor’s arms.

“I fucking hate the lot of them!” Cor gritted his teeth holding Prom closer. He literally saved Regis’s life and they still saw him as a danger.

Somnus smirked. “I told them if they didn’t feel comfortable and weren’t prepared to keep it a secret, that they could find employment elsewhere.”

“I gather none of them objected.” Clarus asked, with pride in his voice for Somnus’s actions. That was not something he ever thought he would express for the ancient King.

“They were the quietest I have ever seen them.”

Ardyn and Cor would hug and thank Somnus later for that. Neither of them had ever been so grateful for his help before. Apart from when Ardyn put a daemon in Cor but they never spoke about that incident.

“Good.” Regis laughed, standing up so he could finally go into his bedroom. “Now that’s all over I am going to bed. Clarus you can go home. Noctis and I will be fine. He is staying in my room tonight.”

“No.” Clarus said bluntly.

“He’s right Clare. Go home.” Cor ordered. Cor knew how worried he must be about Gladio and Iris.

“Somnus and I will keep an eye on things. Go and see your children.” Ardyn confirmed.

Ardyn and Regis had already discussed the fact that Cor and Prom were sleeping in the living room part of Regis’s quarters while Ardyn sat outside Regis’s bedroom door. And by the looks of it, Somnus wasn’t leaving either. Everyone was well protected, Clarus didn’t need to be here.

“Also, I have to think of a good reward for Prompto. It’s not every day a 5-year-old does the job of the King’s Shield.” Regis smirked, teasing Clarus.

Before Regis could leave, with Noctis in his arms, Ardyn raised his voice at him. “I can think of something he would love to know. That is what the hell you have been doing for the past couple of weeks.”

“You need to tell us considering what just happened.” Clarus jumped in before Regis refused to answer.

Tomorrow was going to be so messy. Clarus was going to have to look at all of Regis’s activities over the past few weeks and his plans for the next upcoming weeks to ensure that he was safe and another incident like this did not happen.

“Regis. Tell us now!” Somnus demanded, as he was going to be the one to help Clarus and it would make things so much easier if the King just told them.

“Alright.” Regis sighed and put Noctis in a more suitable position in his arms. “I was… on a dating site. Now I am going to bed.”

“I knew it!” Ardyn exclaimed, before getting smacked on the back of the head by Cor.

“Shut up! The kids are asleep!”


End file.
